When the primary tumor reached a size of 50-100 mm
3
, 40 mice were grouped into 4 groups 10 mice each. Group 1 received normal saline EAC-bearing
control, 5 mgkg. Group 2 received BLM 5 mgkg from 0.1 solution I.P every other day for 10 days. Group 3
received paracetamol 200 mgkg, orally, Hunskaar et al., 1985 for 10 consecutive days. Group 4 received BLM
and paracetamol. Tumor size before day 0, five days after tumor inoculation and after treatment day 10,
fifteen days after tumor inoculation was measured. Antitumor activity was calculated by the determination
of T change of tumor size in the treatment group and C change of tumor size in the control. The degree of
tumor growth inhibition can be obtained from TC X 100 Schirner et al., 1998.
2.4.3. Lung toxicity
Rats were grouped into 4 groups of 8 rats each. Group 1 received normal saline 2.5 mgkg. Group 2
received BLM mgkg from 0.5 solution I.P. three timesweek for 4 weeks Daba et al., 2002. Group 3
received paracetamol 150 mgkg, orally, Chattopadhyay et al., 2002 daily for 4 weeks [13]. Group 4 received
BLM and paracetamol. Twenty-four hours after the last dose of the specific treatment, all rats were weighed and
then sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The pulmonary arteries, trachea and lungs were rapidly excised.
The vasoconstrictor effect of 5-HT on the pulmonary artery and the contractile response to ACh on
trachea were tested. The percent survival of rats was also recorded at the end of treatment after 4 weeks.
Total lungs were weighed for determination of lungbody weight ratio. Sections of the isolated lungs,
each weighing 100 mg, were then used for estimating collagen contents, while the other biochemical
parameters
Lipid peroxide,
nitratenitrite level,
superoxide dismutase activity and GSH were assessed in the lung homogenates. All died animals in the survival
test were replaced to complete 8 ratseach group for other tests.
2.4.4. Preparation of pulmonary arterial rings
Segments of the main pulmonary artery were rapidly placed in warm physiological salt solution PSS
Kreb’s enseleit and dissected free of surrounding tissue. The composition of PSS in mmolL was NaCl 118;
KCl 4.7; CaCl
2
2.5; KH
2
PO
4
1.2; MgSO
4
.7H
2
O 1.2; NaHCO
3
25 and glucose 10; pH 7.4 Blom-Muilwijk et al., 1988. The
pulmonary artery was trimmed and cut into rings about 2 mm in length. The rings were mounted horizontally
between a clamp and a force transducer in an organ bath filled with 50 ml of the PSS. The PSS was kept at
37
o
C and continuously bubbled with a mixture of 95 O
2
and 5 CO
2
. The suspended pulmonary arterial rings were allowed to equilibrate for 30 min under a resting
load of 3 g El-Kashef, 1996. The isometric tension was monitored by means of
a displacement transducer model 50-7905, Harvard Apparatus LTD., South Natick, MA, USA connected to a
two-channel physiograph recorder model 50-8622, Harvard Apparatus LTD., USA. The contractile responses
of the pulmonary arterial rings of each group of animals to different concentrations of 5-HT ranging from 10
-7
to 10
-5
M were recorded. The vascular responsiveness of the tissues to 5-HT was calculated after weighing the rings as
g tensiong tissue.
2.4.5. Preparation of trachea
The trachea was rapidly removed, placed in Kreb’s
Henseleit solution gassed with 95 O
2
5 CO
2
and kept at 32
o
C. The Zig-Zag tracheal strips Emmerson and Mackay, 1979 were then prepared. The tracheal tension
was set at 1 g and a stabilization period of 1 h, was allowed before treatment with drugs. The contractile
responses of the trachea of each group of animals to different concentrations of ACh ranging from 10
-6
to 10
-4
M were recorded. The trachea was weighed and the responsiveness to ACh was calculated as g tensiong
tissue.
2.4.6. Biochemical measurements 2.4.6.1 Determination of collagen
